LAKEPORT -- The man who challenged Lake County's interim medical marijuana cultivation ordinance in court voluntarily dropped the nearly year-old lawsuit last week. "The main reason is I think we have accomplished all we can with that suit, and anything more -- moving forward with that suit -- is not going to be productive," plaintiff Don Merrill said by phone Monday. "I'm hoping that this show of good faith will encourage the county to go ahead and enact some reasonable regulations." Merrill, originally joined by several other medical marijuana users, sued the county and Sheriff Frank Rivero last July in response to temporary laws adopted by the Board of Supervisors -- the other plaintiffs were identified only as "Doe" because they said they feared retaliation. The interim ordinance, approved by the supervisors July 9, limits outdoor cultivation amounts and bans commercial cultivation as well as growing on vacant lands in the unincorporated areas of Lake County. The three "Doe" plaintiffs received permission to be dropped from the litigation in March, leaving Merrill as the lone remaining challenger. Merrill, through his Bay Area attorney Joe Elford, followed suit Wednesday, moving to voluntarily dismiss the case without prejudice -- a request Lake County court officials granted later that day, according to court records. Lake County Counsel Anita Grant, whose office represented the county and its sheriff, did not respond to a request for comment Monday afternoon. Both sides scored early victories in the lawsuit that tested the legality of the county's temporary pot cultivation regulations. In mid-August, now-retired Judge David W. Herrick upheld the county's ability to regulate medical marijuana activities through land-use laws but said the interim ordinance could not be enforced during the 2012 grow season against people who were cultivating in conformance with state law at the time the new county rules were passed. The preliminary injunction granted by Herrick ran out at the beginning of this year, and the lawsuit, until Wednesday, remained in limbo while the plaintiffs decided whether to pursue a potential permanent injunction. The interim ordinance is set to expire in July 2014.